Author: By Steven McCaffery, Press Association

The Prime Minister had been expected to return to London for Prime Minister’s
Questions at Westminster, but officials revealed that Harriet Harman will
now deputise for the Prime Minister at the despatch box.

As talks at Hillsborough Castle, Co Down involving the Democratic Unionists
and Sinn Fein on the devolution of policing and justice powers entered their
third day it was indicated that there was now “scope for agreement”.

A UK Government spokesman told the Press Association: “The Prime Minister and
the Taoiseach have been engaged in discussions throughout the night with
both the Sinn Fein and DUP leaderships and with the other Northern Ireland
leaders.

“Meetings will continue throughout the morning.”

The Government spokesman added: “We continue to believe that there is scope
for agreement on the elements that need to be in place to enable the
completion of devolution in Northern Ireland.

“The Prime Minister will not be able to participate in Prime Minister’s
Questions today and Harriet Harman will deputise. The opposition has been
informed.”

There was speculation last night that the parties were edging towards an
agreement that would see law and order powers transferred from Westminster
to the Northern Ireland Assembly before the upcoming general election, while
a compromise deal was being negotiated on a new system for overseeing Loyal
Order parades.

The talks were dramatically convened by the two premiers on Monday after the
long-running row between the Democratic Unionists and Sinn Fein over the
stalled devolution of policing powers escalated to crisis point.

Republicans threatened serious consequences for the administration if the DUP
does not agree to a swift transfer of law and order responsibilities from
Westminster, but the main unionist party insisted it will not give the
go-ahead until there is progress on the parades front.

The DUP is demanding an end to the Parades Commission which currently oversees
marches in flashpoint areas such as the Garvaghy Road in Portadown, Co
Armagh, one of a number of loyal order parades which had previously sparked
violence.

Led by the two premiers, all of Northern Ireland’s main parties were involved
in round-the-clock talks to hammer out a solution.

Last night all the political leaders met face to face during a round-table
meeting chaired by Mr Brown and Taoiseach Brian Cowen.

Afterwards SDLP leader Mark Durkan said progress had been made on the issue of
parades and called for a deal that would promote true partnership in the
coalition government, in which his party holds one ministry.

“There were a lot of positive words said around the table, a lot of good
words,” he said.

“What we have to do is to see if that can be followed up by good work.”

A recent review on parading led by Lord Ashdown had proposed a mix of local
consultation on marches with adjudicating panels to rule on problem parades.

Mr Durkan said some elements of those recommendations had been abandoned or
reworked in a bid to strike an agreement.

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